Community Security Trust

The Community Security Trust (CST) was set up in 1995 and given charitable status as an organisation created in order to 'protect the lives and security of the Jewish community'[1]. Mike Whine from the Board of Deputies of British Jews was a spokesman for the CST on its launch, he argued that 'There is an increasing terrorist threat. If you look at the attacks, they are not just against Israeli institutions, they are against Jewish institutions'[2]. Mike Whine describes the organisation as a 'Jewish neighbourhood watch scheme"[3]. The group was set up following the bombing of the Israeli embassy in London and the Joint Israel Appeal in Finchley the previous summer (1994)[4].

In 1997 Mike Whine described the group as 'A Jewish neighbourhood watch - with a little bit added'. The Independent reported that the CST 'trains bodyguards for Jews at risk from Arab or Fascist groups', Whine denied that they were a vigilante force arguing that 'We operate within the law, providing a deterrent force. We aren't a bunch of Rambos'[5].

Criticism

The CST claims to be 'a Jewish neighbourhood watch with a little bit added'.

This 'little bit added' is the surveillance and harassment of members of the Jewish community itself, especially those on the Left, who take issue with the political positions expressed by the self -proclaimed leaders of the community. As victims of their harassment, we have seen neither sophistication nor intelligence displayed by the officers of the CST and its forerunner, the Community Security Organisation (CSO).

Many Jews resent the bullying style of the CST at Jewish events in mainstream public venues. Members of the Jewish Socialists' Group and other organisations have even been prevented from entering a range of 'public' events policed by the CSO/CST. These have included a Holocaust commemoration, meetings about Nazi war crimes and an Israeli film festival. The victims have been condemned as 'security risks', despite offering to leave bags and personal effects with security personnel. Many of those excluded have been told they are 'on file'. On what basis they are on file and who verifies that the[SIC] information is impossible to find out[6].

People

CST is headed by its Chairman Gerald Ronson and its Chief Executive Richard Benson. Other key members of staff include its Director of Government and International Affairs Mike Whine, its spokesperson Mark Gardner and its Deputy Director of Communications Dave Rich. CST has been given a dispensation by the Charity Commission allowing it not to publish the names of its trustees. However, it is known to be managed by a single corporate trustee called the Support Trustee Ltd – a private company limited by guarantee (i.e. without shareholders) – which was established in May 2003 to ‘act as trustee, nominee or director of or for the charity Community Security Trust’.[7]

Advisory Board

2010

CST also has an Advisory Board which, as at June 2010, comprised of 55 individuals including a number of MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as former senior police officers. The members of the Advisory Board as at June 2010 are listed below:

↑Steve Boggan, Jewish groups put security top of their agenda; A burgeoning defence force has won charitable status, The Independent, 20-May-1995

↑James Cusick, Bomb Attacks: Five hurt as charity group is focus for second raid: Anti-terrorist police sifting through the wreckage of the car that contained the bomb which exploded in Finchley, north London, early yesterday, The Independent, 28-July-1994

↑CHRIS HASTINGS and ANDREW ALDERSON, Fêted by Blair: the glory days when donor was not so shy Scorned businessman in donations row enjoyed access to the very top of the party, The Sunday Telegraph, 7-December-2007